Senel Paz

Writer and film screenwriter. His narrative work, which includes short stories and novels, is characterized by its deeply Cuban roots. These are stories that, through careful discourse, present conflicts and realities, hopes and attitudes, contradictions and yearnings, thus creating an authentic and truthful universe. He is also an author of theatrical works, short stories and novels, which have been translated into seven languages and published in anthologies throughout the world.

Senel was born in the town of Fomento. He grew up in a poor peasant family that managed to educate its children thanks to measures that favored that sector after the triumph of the Revolution.

The writer was the first person in his family to complete primary education. His adolescence and youth took place in Cabaiguán, a place to which he has always felt very close, in fact he is one of the main promoters of the transformation of Culture in Cabaiguán and architect of the territory being considered as one of the venues for the International Book Fair.

He left for Havana to study and graduated in 1973 with a degree in Journalism from the University of Havana.

He worked as a reporter for provincial newspapers from 1973 to 1979, as a cultural publicist at the Ministry of Culture from 1979 to 1984, as an editor at the cultural magazine Revolución y Cultura from 1984 to 1986, and as a literary advisor and script analyst at the Cuban Institute of Film Art and Industry. He was also an advisor to the Presidency of this Institution and a member of its Artistic Council.

In 1986 he began working at the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) as an advisor to the Presidency for the area of literature and international relations. From 1998 to 2001 he served as head of the Screenwriting Department at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños, and from that date on as Dean of that school.

Author of the screenplays of popular films such as: A Bride for David and Adorable Lies, as well as three fiction shorts. He also collaborated on the screenplay of the films: Waiting List, A Paradise Under the Stars, Malena is a Tango Name, Things I Left in Havana, A Rose from France and Maité.

Main works and awards received

He is the author of the short story collection The Boy Back Then (UNION Editions, 1980), David Prize, 1979 and of the novel A King in the Garden, published by Casa editorial Letras Cubanas in 1983 and by UNION Editions in 1987, awarded on that occasion with the Literary Criticism Prize 1983 and published in Czechoslovakia, Spain, Mexico and Egypt.

His short story The Wolf, the Forest and the New Man was published by the Casa editorial Edición Homenaje of the Ministry of Culture in 1990, two years later by Casa Editorial Luminaria, in Sancti Spíritus. This work received the International Juan Rulfo Short Story Prize 1990 and the Literary Criticism Prize 1992. The text has been published in 20 countries, 11 languages and has 15 theatrical versions in Cuba and abroad. In 2013 a new edition of this work was presented in Cuba.

In 1993, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío directed the film Strawberry and Chocolate, based on that work, which has obtained multiple national and international awards, including the Coral Prize for Unpublished Screenplay at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (1992); the Silver Bear Prize at the International Film Festival in Cannes, in Berlin, (1994); and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Hollywood, (1995).

His theatrical piece Dear Diego, published in Mexico by Tramoya Magazine in 1995 and later in Spain in 2000, has been performed in Cuba, Spain, Mexico, the United States and Germany.

Senel Paz's most recent novel In Heaven with Diamonds, published by Oriente Editorial in 2007, received the Literary Creation Prize Casa de América Latina 2008 and most requested fiction book in Cuban libraries in 2008. This work has also been published in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France.

His short stories and tales have appeared in numerous Cuban and foreign magazines and anthologies, both in Spanish and in other languages. His literary work has also been the subject of adaptations for radio, television, theater and cinema, in Cuba and other countries.

He has participated in numerous congresses and cultural, literary and cinematographic events, in Cuba and abroad, and has been a juror for important national and international competitions. In Italy he presides over the Cuban chapter of the Grinzane Cavour Prize Foundation and collaborates with magazines and newspapers in that country.

Film screenplays
A Bride for David (1985), by Orlando Rojas, Caracol Prize for Screenplay.
Adorable Lies (1991), by Gerardo Chijona, Caracol Prize, Coral Prize for Screenplay and Prize in Huelva.
Fidelity (1992), short film by Rebeca Chávez.
The Triangle (1992), short film by Rebeca Chávez.
Strawberry and Chocolate, by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío
Maité (1994), by Eneko Olasagasti and Carlos Zabala.
Malena is a Tango Name (1996), by Gerardo Herrero.
Things I Left in Havana (1999), by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.
Waiting List (2001), by Juan Carlos Tabío.
A Rose from France (2005), by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.

Distinctions and decorations received
He received the Distinction for National Culture and the Alejo Carpentier Medal. He also holds, among other decorations, an Honorable Mention of the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the fight against intolerance.

For his long and sustained career in Cuban cinema, he obtained the jury's vote as worthy recipient of the National Film Prize 2020.